Fashioning Your Own Eternal Footprint
If you have been around me for any length of time, then you know that I am a woman on a mission to leave a legacy that honors Christ. So let me take a few minutes and share with you 6 thoughts on what it looks like to craft your own legacy:
1. A Footprint of INTENTIONALITY
- What's intentionality look like in Jeanne's life? Being a "100X person" ... "Jesus with skin on."
- Until you decide who you ARE, you'll probably keep trying to be a CHEAP IMITATION of someone else.
2. A Footprint of PEOPLE OVER PROGRAMS
- The ONLY two things that you can take to Heaven with you are your own intimacy with the Lord...and OTHER PEOPLE.
- "When I die, don't think I'm gone. I'll still be alive in that person...and that person...and that person...and that person." - D. L. Moody and Jeanne
3. A Footprint of PASSION AND WHOLEHEARTEDNESS
- Find a few things you are willing to DIE FOR...and then chose to LIVE FOR THEM.
- If it's not worth doing WHOLEHEARTEDLY, it's probably not worth doing AT ALL..
4. A Footprint of CONSISTENT PERSONAL SOUL-TENDING (Code language for prioritizing my own personal time with the Lord.)
- "Have a ‘DAILY APPOINTMENT TIME' with Jesus." (5 out of 7 days a week is a successful week in my heart.)
- OWN responsibility for your own spiritual growth and health. It is spiritual suicide to mentally assign that responsibility to your pastor or anyone else. You will eventually become either a spiritual HERO or a spiritual HAS-BEEN. But only YOU can decide.
- Never am I so FULFILLED as when I choose to UNDERWHELM my schedule so Christ can OVERWHELM my soul.
5 A Footprint Of KNOWING AND FIGHTING YOUR "SHADOW SIDE"
- Identify and label the "bull's eye" on your spiritual chest. You can't DEFEAT an enemy that you're unwilling to RECOGNIZE and call by name.
- We as Christian leaders have a frightening ability to rationalize and double-talk our own subtle compromise and sin. Do so at your own peril.
- Make your failures and weaknesses PUSH YOU INTO THE LORD'S PRESENCE. That's why Peter ran to the tomb after the Resurrection. Ultimately take courage in knowing that your CALL is always greater than your FALL.
6. A Footprint of REFUSING TO QUIT
- There are a lot of GREAT STARTERS in the Kingdom; but not a lot of GREAT FINISHERS. Determine, by God's grace, to be the latter. Then, though I've said it countless times, remember that PERSEVERANCE is often the GREATEST REVENGE you can ever pay to Hell.
If you have been around me for any length of time, then you know that I am a woman on a mission to leave a legacy that honors Christ. So let me take a few minutes and share with you 6 thoughts on what it looks like to craft your own legacy:
1. A Footprint of INTENTIONALITY
- What's intentionality look like in Jeanne's life? Being a "100X person" ... "Jesus with skin on."
- Until you decide who you ARE, you'll probably keep trying to be a CHEAP IMITATION of someone else.
2. A Footprint of PEOPLE OVER PROGRAMS
- The ONLY two things that you can take to Heaven with you are your own intimacy with the Lord...and OTHER PEOPLE.
- "When I die, don't think I'm gone. I'll still be alive in that person...and that person...and that person...and that person." - D. L. Moody and Jeanne
3. A Footprint of PASSION AND WHOLEHEARTEDNESS
- Find a few things you are willing to DIE FOR...and then chose to LIVE FOR THEM.
- If it's not worth doing WHOLEHEARTEDLY, it's probably not worth doing AT ALL..
4. A Footprint of CONSISTENT PERSONAL SOUL-TENDING (Code language for prioritizing my own personal time with the Lord.)
- "Have a ‘DAILY APPOINTMENT TIME' with Jesus." (5 out of 7 days a week is a successful week in my heart.)
- OWN responsibility for your own spiritual growth and health. It is spiritual suicide to mentally assign that responsibility to your pastor or anyone else. You will eventually become either a spiritual HERO or a spiritual HAS-BEEN. But only YOU can decide.
- Never am I so FULFILLED as when I choose to UNDERWHELM my schedule so Christ can OVERWHELM my soul.
5 A Footprint Of KNOWING AND FIGHTING YOUR "SHADOW SIDE"
- Identify and label the "bull's eye" on your spiritual chest. You can't DEFEAT an enemy that you're unwilling to RECOGNIZE and call by name.
- We as Christian leaders have a frightening ability to rationalize and double-talk our own subtle compromise and sin. Do so at your own peril.
- Make your failures and weaknesses PUSH YOU INTO THE LORD'S PRESENCE. That's why Peter ran to the tomb after the Resurrection. Ultimately take courage in knowing that your CALL is always greater than your FALL.
6. A Footprint of REFUSING TO QUIT
- There are a lot of GREAT STARTERS in the Kingdom; but not a lot of GREAT FINISHERS. Determine, by God's grace, to be the latter. Then, though I've said it countless times, remember that PERSEVERANCE is often the GREATEST REVENGE you can ever pay to Hell.
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In this Youth Leader's Coach, instead of just me in the studio, you hear me speaking to the young college and career group at our church. But I am so passionate about this, I wanted to share it with you too! I challenged them with some simple questions to help them discover what God has put in their "box" to live a life of meaning and purpose.
Committed to living a 100X life,
As a youth leader, have you ever thought when counseling someone, "If you only knew"? If you only knew that I too wrestle with doubts, insecurities, and mind games. If you only knew that I too struggle with unconquered sin patterns. If you only knew... The reality is that I do know. I know not only because you told me, but also from having faced my own "If you only knew..." challenges.
My heart's desire is that you suffer in silence no longer. Hopefully, this Youth Leader's Coach, "7 Things Youth Pastors Tell Me In Secret," will reach inside that secret place in your heart and provide you with large doses of encouragement, along with valuable wisdom and hope.
Lovingly,
You'll love this Source! It's the first night with my new youth group and my strategic announcement of launching small groups. You'll hear me take a run at what our youth ministry can look like over the next year and how the students can be involved in creating the next 8,760 hours together.
You don't have to be starting with a new ministry like I am to use this Source. It's a great message to use if you just want to "refresh" your youth ministry at any point in the journey. With some thought provoking monologues from both students and leaders, a few key Scriptures and some quotes, we saw the atmosphere of the room change as we built a dream for the future.
You may also want to listen to the Youth Leader's Coach that goes with this message, "Thoughts From The Starting Line."
Still Dreaming,
This resource will be invaluable for any of us that call ourselves leaders, no matter where we are at in life. Everything rises and falls on leadership. That's why it's so important that we take the time to evaluate ourselves occasionally on how we are doing personally as we lead others.
In this month's Youth Leader's Coach, "10 Point Leadership Self-Assessment Test: How Much Of A Leader Are You Really?" I'm challenging all of us to use these 10 points to gauge how we are doing leadership-wise. Let this be both an encouragement for you in the areas you are doing great and a chance to put the target on the wall for yourself in areas that could use some improvement.
Lovingly,
Over the last decades the students in my ministries have gone through lots of culture shifts. From the Baby Boomers...to Generations X, Y, Z, Millennials, iGen, and Gen Alpha. One of the most common questions I get asked is, "How do you connect with and leave a footprint on the next generation?" That's what this Youth Leader's Coach is all about. I share 5 "Non-Negotiables" for reaching the next generation, whatever they happen to be calling them.
These 5 simple principles have remained consistent as I've reached almost 5 decades of students. So listen in. Together we will raise a generation of young people that will say with confidence, "Jesus, we are yours!"
Lovingly,
